The Science of Discworld

When a wizardly experiment goes adrift, the wizards of Unseen University find themselves with a pocket universe on their hands: our Earth, a. k. a Roundworld, a place where neither magic nor common sense seems to stand a chance against logic. As the wizards watch their accidental creation grow, the Dean magically nudges Roundworld in an attempt to speed up evolution, knocking it off course and risking the birth of humanity. Realising they may have broken history, Ridcully, Ponder Stibbons, Rincewind and the Librarian embark on an expedition to our world to try to set everything back on track. Through this original Terry Pratchett story (with intervening chapters from science writers Cohen and Stewart) we discover how scientific progress works and learn about how life evolved alongside the wizards. We observe how our our understanding deepens through new discoveries and how the richness of a universe based on rules has led to a complex world where at least one species has tried to get a grip of what was going on.